San Francisco Shock (13-4), June 22nd
The San Francisco Shock is still one of the best teams in the league. Despite their loss against Houston last week, and despite their reluctance/incapability to play Sombra, this team is still a strong contender to win this stage. The Shock’s other game last week was a 4-0 drumming of the Seoul Dynasty. A team like the Shock would not be pleased to be beaten by a team like Houston and will be sure to dominate the rest of their matches to prove a point. It’s not a good time to face the Shock for the Florida Mayhem.
The Mayhem will be smart to play more of Lee “BQB“ Sang-bum’s Sombra in this series. This is because of the absolute clinic that Dante “Danteh” Cruz put on against the Shock last week on Sombra. Perhaps the disruption of Sombra will be enough for the Mayhem to hang with the Shock just a little bit. The Shock is a confident, compact and aggressive unit. This kind of team is particularly scary for Mayhem, as they generally play scrappy and loose. This should be an easy win for the San Francisco Shock.
Prediction: San Francisco Shock 4 – 0 Florida Mayhem
Houston Outlaws (5-12), June 24th
The Houston Outlaws are experiencing a good ol’ fashion cowboy renaissance. Last week, they beat the San Francisco Shock in what is possibly the biggest upset in Overwatch League history. Danteh is a legitimate superstar on Sombra. Houston also beat up on a disgruntled Boston Uprising team last week. What makes that Boston game impressive for Houston is that they generally play up to better opponents, but they also generally play down to worse opponents. To beat a struggling team without dropping a map is a strong indication that Houston is a real threat to make the stage playoffs this time around.
Houston is play
ing an interesting mix of Sombra GOATs and DPS compositions. This is actually a style of gameplay that suits the Mayhem also. Depending on whether BQB can match Danteh on Sombra, this matchup does not seem like a terrible one for the Mayhem. Florida like to play against scrappy teams, both Koo “Fate” Pan-seung and Koo “Xepher” Jae-mo are quite aggressive at times, and a team like Houston don’t often punish this playstyle. Houston generally opt in to the scrappy and aggressive team fights. What is scary in this matchup is Houston’s confidence, not their individual mechanical skill.
Prediction: Houston Outlaws 3 – 1 Florida Mayhem
On the Mayhem…
The Florida Mayhem played well against the Paris Eternal last week. It was a series where the Mayhem should have taken two maps. Instead, it ended at three maps to one in favour of Paris. In their most recent matches, the Mayhem have been substituting Jo “HaGoPeun” Hyeon-woo and Seong “Byrem” Joo-lee between each other. With the recent addition of Park “RAin” Jae-ho, it will be interesting to see just how the Mayhem’s support lineup looks like this week.
This roster looks the tightest where Xepher is on Pharah or Zarya, not on D.va. And where BQB is on Sombra and not on Zarya. Of course, there are further additions to this roster that will solve this issue however for right now, there are serious gaps in hero depth within this team’s roster. In the game against the Shock especially, the gap in Zarya skill between BQB and Jay “Sinatraa” Won will be quite evident.
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